Summary of Alison Gopnik's The Gardener And The Carpenter

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

Book Preview: #1The word parenting first appeared in America in 1958. It is a poor fit to the scientific reality, as parents are not designed to shape their children’s lives. They are designed to provide the next generation with a protected space in which they can produce new ways of thinking and acting that are unlike any that we would have anticipated beforehand.

#2 There is little evidence that parents’ decisions about co-sleeping or letting their children cry it out has any long-term effects on their children’s adult traits. The American society, which is centered around parenting, provides less support for children than any other developed country.

#3 The rise of parenting is similar to what happened to food in America around the same time period. We have replaced traditional eating habits with prescriptions. What was once a matter of experience has become a matter of expertise.

#4 Children are undeniably messy. They are incontrovertibly and undeniably messy. Whatever the rewards of being a parent may be, tidiness is not one of them. In fact, in the perpetual academic search for funding, I’ve wondered whether I could get the military to consider weaponizing toddler chaos.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Feb 25, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669352990

IRB Media

With IRB books, you can get the key takeaways and analysis of a book in 15 minutes. We read every chapter, identify the key takeaways and analyze them for your convenience.

Book preview

Insights on Alison Gopnik's The Gardener and the Carpenter

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 9

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The word parenting first appeared in America in 1958. It is a poor fit to the scientific reality, as parents are not designed to shape their children’s lives. They are designed to provide the next generation with a protected space in which they can produce new ways of thinking and acting that are unlike any that we would have anticipated beforehand.

#2

There is little evidence that parents’ decisions about co-sleeping or letting their children cry it out has any long-term effects on their children’s adult traits. The American society, which is centered around parenting, provides less support for children than any other developed country.

#3

The rise of parenting is similar to what happened to food in America around the same time period. We have replaced traditional eating habits with prescriptions. What was once a matter of experience has become a matter of expertise.

#4

Children are undeniably messy. They are incontrovertibly and undeniably messy. Whatever the rewards of being a parent may be, tidiness is not one of them. In fact, in the perpetual academic search for funding, I’ve wondered whether I could get the military to consider weaponizing toddler chaos.

#5

The parents of a risk-taking child may live with their hearts in their mouths, but they should know that this is what allows their children to thrive in an unpredictable world.

#6

The strategy for human success is to generate many different possibilities, at least partly at random, and then preserve the ones that work. However, we don’t entirely eliminate the alternatives. We